The West African Mining Activities Week has been organized since 2016, notably to attract mining investments to Burkina Faso. The 2023 edition comes at a time of declining gold production, with government efforts to reverse the trend.

Burkina Faso will host the 5th edition of the West African Mining Activities Week (WAMAW) in Ouagadougou from September 28th to 30th, 2023. The date was announced after the Burkinabe government’s ministerial council on Wednesday, July 12.

The event is held yearly in the Burkinabe capital, since 2016, bringing together hundreds of mining professionals. This year's theme is "Mining Exploitation in Africa: What Strategy to Impact the Development of Local Economies?"

As usual, with the event, authorities want to give more visibility to the local mining sector and particularly attract new investors in a context where the national gold production is declining due to the security situation.

The 5th edition of the event was initially scheduled for December 2021 but, a few weeks before the scheduled date, it was postponed.  In June 2023, the Minister of Energy, Mines, and Quarries signed a convention with the International Energy, Mining, and Quarries Exhibition. This organization, which has been assisting the government in organizing WAMAW for years, will now assume full responsibility for this edition and future ones.

Gold is of utmost importance to the Burkinabe economy. It is one of the country’s main export products and dominates its mining sector, which accounted for 16% of GDP in 2020 (according to the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative -EITI).

In 2022, Burkina Faso was the third West African gold producer. But, at 57.76 tons, its production was down 14% year-on-year. In that context, authorities are making a concerted effort to reverse this trend.

Emiliano Tossou